2022 (72) M3P musings from a 2020 M3P owner

Tesla Bristol kindly gave me a 2022 (72) M3P to test drive today, just gave me the key cards and said that no one else was using it today, and come back whenever I want. I love this no pressure selling, kudos to the guy at the store.

I parked my 2020 (30) M3P car alongside it so I could try and compare and contrast, and having done a 25 mile drive to get there I wanted to get out and do the same roads to compare road noise, etc.

I’ve done just over 4k miles in my car, so it’s not far of being “as new” in terms of wear and tear, so I thought it would be a useful comparison.

Just thought I’d give my random observations, for what it’s worth:

• Although the car had double pane front windows (not rear, still?) I was surprised that it wasn’t any quieter than my car on the road. If there was any difference it was imperceptible to my ears. I am led to believe that there is quite a variance in this on cars, given how much adjustability there is in it. Maybe my car is better than most.
• When driving the car squeaked a little at the back exactly the same as mine does, which made me smile.
• The whirr noise you hear when you go from Park into Drive was much quieter in the 2022 car. Different motors I guess.
• The UFO noise in reverse is so cringe.
• The seats felt different, more figure hugging. It could have just been that they were in a different position, but the side bolsters felt a little more supportive. Definitely still not to the degree that I’d like in a performance car though. I don’t like the visible black portions of the white seat bottoms - I couldn’t unsee them.
• The door close and open sounds are a lot more ”chunky” sounding (in a good way), sounds more substantial. Don’t know if that’s the double pane glass, padding behind the door card, or something else. I couldn’t perceive the sound of the glass dropping when opening the door, it was just instantaneous.
• The new console looks a lot better in the flesh than in photos. I’m still 50/50 on whether I prefer it to the old one (I’ve PPF’d mine so it looks as good as new), but it looks nice. After having used it I’m starting to feel like having covers for the compartments is a good thing in theory, but it’s a faff when you just want to throw your phone on it, etc. If you leave the covers up you defeat the object of the aesthetics. The compartments on the 2.0 console make more sense.
• Heated steering wheel - I wish I could’ve got this working on my car, it was sublime. I know I’m going to miss this soon. #firstworldproblems
• Ryzen - It’s so snappy. It’s one of those things where ignorance is bliss if you have an older car. Everything loaded in <5 seconds - Disney, Youtube, Netflix, etc. I don’t really sit in my car while it’s charging, but when I did the other day I noticed how laboured everything was to load and play. This Ryzen car felt like an actual current iPad or something on the dash in terms of speed. Even moving the map and bringing up the cameras seemed quicker. This is the thing I regret not having the most, I think. Ryzen felt at least twice as fast as my Atom car in general usage, it’s probably even faster than that. Rebooting the car took <10 seconds, on mine it would take a good 45-60 I think.
• The acceleration felt no different to my car (not that I was expecting it to)
• Powered boot is nice, quieter than my aftermarket kit, the fact the OEM one latches harder didn’t seem as bad as I thought it would be.

If I’d had a 2020 LR I would’ve definitely switched on the basis of a nominal price delta to get into a new car. With a P even back at the height of the inflated trade in offers it was still ~£10k to get into the same spec car again, now it’s more than £20k. As much as I liked the new car, I don’t think I could justify spending that to get the all of your quality of life improvements.

I’m going to miss the Ryzen and heated steering wheel for sure though.

I hope you enjoyed my TED talk.

(Admin note: Stock photo for thumbnail)

 

[doats1]

I like how the Ryzen units fade to black when you exit the car and close the door.

 

[Durzel]

Does it? I didn’t notice that.

 

[Mr Puzzles]

re the glass, they arent the same as the double glazed type you get in the mercedes s class

 

[doats1]

Does it? I didn’t notice that.

It did in the MYLR I test-drove a while back. Tbh I'm not fussed about the faster processors because the current ones aren't exactly slow based on what I use. As long as they don't start removing infotainment functionality I'm good.

 

[Dilly]

Tesla Bristol kindly gave me a 2022 (72) M3P to test drive today, just gave me the key cards and said that no one else was using it today, and come back whenever I want. I love this no pressure selling, kudos to the guy at the store.

I parked my 2020 (30) M3P car alongside it so I could try and compare and contrast, and having done a 25 mile drive to get there I wanted to get out and do the same roads to compare road noise, etc.

I’ve done just over 4k miles in my car, so it’s not far of being “as new” in terms of wear and tear, so I thought it would be a useful comparison.

Just thought I’d give my random observations, for what it’s worth:

• Although the car had double pane front windows (not rear, still?) I was surprised that it wasn’t any quieter than my car on the road. If there was any difference it was imperceptible to my ears. I am led to believe that there is quite a variance in this on cars, given how much adjustability there is in it. Maybe my car is better than most.
• When driving the car squeaked a little at the back exactly the same as mine does, which made me smile.
• The whirr noise you hear when you go from Park into Drive was much quieter in the 2022 car. Different motors I guess.
• The UFO noise in reverse is so cringe.
• The seats felt different, more figure hugging. It could have just been that they were in a different position, but the side bolsters felt a little more supportive. Definitely still not to the degree that I’d like in a performance car though. I don’t like the visible black portions of the white seat bottoms - I couldn’t unsee them.
• The door close and open sounds are a lot more ”chunky” sounding (in a good way), sounds more substantial. Don’t know if that’s the double pane glass, padding behind the door card, or something else. I couldn’t perceive the sound of the glass dropping when opening the door, it was just instantaneous.
• The new console looks a lot better in the flesh than in photos. I’m still 50/50 on whether I prefer it to the old one (I’ve PPF’d mine so it looks as good as new), but it looks nice. After having used it I’m starting to feel like having covers for the compartments is a good thing in theory, but it’s a faff when you just want to throw your phone on it, etc. If you leave the covers up you defeat the object of the aesthetics. The compartments on the 2.0 console make more sense.
• Heated steering wheel - I wish I could’ve got this working on my car, it was sublime. I know I’m going to miss this soon. #firstworldproblems
• Ryzen - It’s so snappy. It’s one of those things where ignorance is bliss if you have an older car. Everything loaded in <5 seconds - Disney, Youtube, Netflix, etc. I don’t really sit in my car while it’s charging, but when I did the other day I noticed how laboured everything was to load and play. This Ryzen car felt like an actual current iPad or something on the dash in terms of speed. Even moving the map and bringing up the cameras seemed quicker. This is the thing I regret not having the most, I think. Ryzen felt at least twice as fast as my Atom car in general usage, it’s probably even faster than that. Rebooting the car took <10 seconds, on mine it would take a good 45-60 I think.
• The acceleration felt no different to my car (not that I was expecting it to)
• Powered boot is nice, quieter than my aftermarket kit, the fact the OEM one latches harder didn’t seem as bad as I thought it would be.

If I’d had a 2020 LR I would’ve definitely switched on the basis of a nominal price delta to get into a new car. With a P even back at the height of the inflated trade in offers it was still ~£10k to get into the same spec car again, now it’s more than £20k. As much as I liked the new car, I don’t think I could justify spending that to get the all of your quality of life improvements.

I’m going to miss the Ryzen and heated steering wheel for sure though.

I hope you enjoyed my TED talk.

I did a comparison just now. £18K to swap my 2020 LR without adding FSD again. I’ll stick.

 

[Durzel]

I did a comparison just now. £18K to swap my 2020 LR without adding FSD again. I’ll stick.

The closest it’s ever been for me I think was a shade under £9500. Performance and FSD are not a good combo for trade in values, it seems LR and SR+ were the sweet spot, particularly people coming to the end of their 2019 leases I suspect.

Buying another one is off the table for the moment I think. I’ll be waiting for a refresh which I feel like is coming (HW4?) before I switch, assuming I stick with Tesla.

re the glass, they arent the same as the double glazed type you get in the mercedes s class

I was hoping they might perhaps make a difference, but alas not. I can well believe that individual cars are better or worse than others though, since there is a lot of adjustment in every direction possible with them.

It did in the MYLR I test-drove a while back. Tbh I'm not fussed about the faster processors because the current ones aren't exactly slow based on what I use. As long as they don't start removing infotainment functionality I'm good.

I didn’t think I would be fussed but it definitely was slick. I don’t feel like I’m missing out but at the same time ignorance definitely was bliss. The speed at which it loads the Theatre stuff is night and day.

 

[gangzoom]

The closest it’s ever been for me I think was a shade under £9500.

Unless you apply proper man maths, its pretty much impossible to 'jusitfy' any new car based on a swapping out of a fully paid up/owned car.

Every 4-6 months I do the figures on our cars to see if there is any financial reason for a swap. Car1 is ideally to be replaced by a Model 3, we even had one on order. But as you can see the numbers don't lie, there is zero chance a Model 3 is 'worth' £35-40k cash spend for a car that dose 3000 miles a year.

As for the X, swapping into a new one would be roughly £50k+, still mad, but at 15k miles a year actually far closer to justifiable than getting a Model 3. But again is a new X 'worth' £50k versus out current X, not a chance.

As it stands out total ''out of pocket' costs to keep the current cars is under £50/month, the idea if dropping £100kish to replace both cars for newer versions is total madness right now. Though clearly we did spend £100K on the cars a while back, but the reasoning for that was because we cannot afford to buy new cars every 2-3 years, and it appears we 100% CANNOT afford to do that. Give another 2-3-4-5 years may be .

So forget financial justification, as the numbers will NEVER work. If you want something new, and can afford it, just do it .

Car1 - Lexus IS300H

£33k purchase price March 2015
£13k WBAC price.

MOT £35/year - £3/month
Service £150/2 years - £6/month
£0 in repairs since 2015

= £226/month without fuel costs + depreciation.
= £10/month current 'out of pocket' costs.


Car 2: Model X

£71k purchase price March 2017
£45k WBAC
£400 Service every 4 years.- £8.33/month
£800 repairs since 2017 - £13/month
MOT £45/year - £3.75/month

= £394/month without fuel costs + depreciation.
=£24/month current 'out of pocket' costs.

 

[seadog]

The wind noise was the best improvement on my 2022 over my 2020, not a big difference at normal speeds but if you were going fast on a windy day (which we get plenty of in North Scotland) there was an annoying buffeting from the drivers window that is not there in the 2022 car, its silent in comparison. This could easily just have been my old car though, Tesla did adjust the windows which helped slightly but never eliminated the problem. I was around £10K to change which I though was decent value given another 2 years warranty and the spec improvements.

 

[MartiMart]

Unless you apply proper man maths, its pretty much impossible to 'jusitfy' any new car based on a swapping out of a fully paid up/owned car.

Every 4-6 months I do the figures on our cars to see if there is any financial reason for a swap. Car1 is ideally to be replaced by a Model 3, we even had one on order. But as you can see the numbers don't lie, there is zero chance a Model 3 is 'worth' £35-40k cash spend for a car that dose 3000 miles a year.

As for the X, swapping into a new one would be roughly £50k+, still mad, but at 15k miles a year actually far closer to justifiable than getting a Model 3. But again is a new X 'worth' £50k versus out current X, not a chance.

As it stands out total ''out of pocket' costs to keep the current cars is under £50/month, the idea if dropping £100kish to replace both cars for newer versions is total madness right now. Though clearly we did spend £100K on the cars a while back, but the reasoning for that was because we cannot afford to buy new cars every 2-3 years, and it appears we 100% CANNOT afford to do that. Give another 2-3-4-5 years may be .

So forget financial justification, as the numbers will NEVER work. If you want something new, and can afford it, just do it .

Car1 - Lexus IS300H

£33k purchase price March 2015
£13k WBAC price.

MOT £35/year - £3/month
Service £150/2 years - £6/month
£0 in repairs since 2015

= £226/month without fuel costs + depreciation.
= £10/month current 'out of pocket' costs.


Car 2: Model X

£71k purchase price March 2017
£45k WBAC
£400 Service every 4 years.- £8.33/month
£800 repairs since 2017 - £13/month
MOT £45/year - £3.75/month

= £394/month without fuel costs + depreciation.
=£24/month current 'out of pocket' costs.

It’s like any choice, nothing wrong with a cheap chrome laptop, I prefer MacBooks which cost double and some might think not worth it, but to me they are. I’ve had my Model 3 Performance over 2 years, my new Model Y is cost neutral once trade in is taken into account. I do keep thinking about a Model X but I’d want the fast version and I can’t justify it.

 

[Cypcode]

Would be nice if they had retrofits to go from Atom processor to the Ryzen.

 

[Durzel]

Would be nice, but I suspect there is more to it than just replacing the MCU. I fear it probably needs body controllers to be changed as well, with looms, etc. Who knows, maybe in 1-2 years it might be an option.

 

[Avendit]

With my 3p- just over 3 years old, it's a question I consider often. Many of the upgrades are just score neutral changes, but the Ryzen, heated wheel and thicker windows are nice. If the matrix lights were activated I'd start to get tempted, but I think it would take a conversation to a hatch to really move me. Could really do with easier to use luggage space, but just not in to the Y.

Does help that I seem to have a good 3, wind noise is negligible up to 80 and it's mostly well put together. Any replacement is still a bit of a roll of the dice, although not like it was back then. I've also got after market suspension which removes one of my main complaints, but if the refreshed suspension did better road noise insulation that would be another tempting factor. Or if air was an option!

All that said, I'd still have to find another P- with tow package. I do actually tow a few times a year, and I'm not sure they even do them any more.

Every upgrade that comes out I think hmmm, is this the one? It hasn't been yet tho. Can see me
running this one till the body work falls apart tbh. Software upgrades take the edge off the envy, and many upgrades could be retrofitted for less than a car swap of it came to it.